Appearance Concern And Depression In Adolescent Girls With Systemic Lupus Erythematous

Objective:To examine the relationship between physical appearance concern and psychological distress in female adolescent patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods:A total of42adolescent SLE female patients and40age-matching healthy children were evaluated for levels of appearance concern and a range of illness-specific measures to determine how these demographic and clinical variables were related to the dependent variable psychological distress. The Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was used to assess disease activity. Assessment of depression was conducted through the Children Depression Inventory (CDI). Appearance concern was measured using the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC).Results:The total CDI was18.5±4.3in SLE patients, indicating that these patients had more depressive symptoms, comparing with normal age-matching children. Furthermore, a total of16(38.1%) patients had CDI larger than19points. The CDI in control group was significantly lower than that in the appearance concern group (11.4±1.7vs.18.5±4.3,p<0.05). Using correlation and multiple regression analyses, we found that both appearance concern and age were predictive of depression in patients with SLE, and the former was highly correlated. This indicates that appearance concern may be associated with depression in female adolescent SLE patients. Furthermore, the incidence of depressive symptoms in lupus encephalopathy and non-lupus encephalopathy groups is similar. Conclusion:The results suggest that appearance concern is strongly associated with depression in female adolescent patients with SLE and should be paid more attention during the treatment and routinely assessed. It seems that the lupus encephalopathy is not significantly associated with the depression.